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I saw that there was new packaging coming and spied a new bag but this is even better news, and wet food too. I recently put Nala back onto a small bag of chicken to shed a little weight before our dog show...worked perfectly and she loves it. Haven't tried the fish grain free, but a chicken might be good!

not sure about the dirt, but my girls eat grass every day. It's like a treat for them, and they graze like cows (and being spotted, look like little fresian cows). I believe, being omnivores, it's just a part of their diet? It rarely makes them throw up, it's more the danglies out the other end that I worry about...EW! :laugh: having to help my dog with a grassy poo dangly is so gross. My girls are very selective, only fresh new shoots are acceptable, the type that sprouts along walls and fences.

I ask them "Who's a beautiful Clee-Flea/Nala-poo" or just "hey flea/Poo" I also explain to them why it's naughty of them if they break before I say "ok" for dinner.

So happy to announce that Nala earnt her first points today at ten months and 2 days, and not only that but she won BOB as well! Totally blew me away, not only beating the bitch who beat her yesterday, but the BOB boy from yesterday as well. She also got puppy in group! No ribbon photos yet, it was raining and cold and we hightailed it as soon as soon as general specials was over! here is a slightly blurry photo of us running for Puppy in show...she was so over the wet and cold by this time, we would turn the corner of the triangle but she'd want to keep running straight into her crate! :laugh:

Yes Raineth, Nala is my liver and Cleo is my black. Thank you for the kind words, as different as they are I find them both so beautiful in their own ways. As random as spotting can be, there are patterns that almost seem to be hereditary, such as Cleo's face pattern with the dark eyes, ears and nose - her sister has the same. Many others do as well, but then other dals can have a "clean" face like Nala which Nala got off her dad (Nala's mum is Cleo's sister) so who knows!!! Airedaler, surprisingly not always. When it comes to dals, as much as good spotting is something to strive for, and we all want a moderately spotted dog with no spots running together it isn't the make or break (unless we're talking so many spots the dog is black, or vice versa, or it has patches). Today, Cleo took out neuter in group and beat two other neutered dals to get there :) She's also won a neuter in show before. Spots are important, but they are the icing on the conformation cake. I've found Cleo is winning more this year and I would think it is her maturity and muscle tone after training for the ET - she's ripped ;)

just hold off until early 2016 and you can have a Nala baby :provoke:

the light/heavy of spotting does seem to be random, BUT from what I've seen, most breeders wouldn't breed a very light to another very light or vice versa. The breeder of my Nala kept Nala's sister because she wanted "more pigment" and I wanted a more moderate pattern. When looking at a dal pup, you are not seeing the full picture, those spots grow and grow and new spots appear and what looked moderate in a 6 week old can be fairly heavy in an adult. Re. BAER, would never go with a breeder that didn't do it. For me when I breed this will mean travelling up to 5 hours with baby puppies but the things we do hey. I am also planning on testing as many things as I can, hips/elbows, thyroid and other DNA tests. I plan on being fully transparent and don't want to say "it hasn't happened in my lines so I don't test" as some do. Let your friend know that there is a great FB page for Dalmatian owners/adorers/slaves called Dalmatians of Australia and New Zealand which is great for dal specific stuff (diet is the most important, scary how many people don't realize) AND PICTURE TIME!! (Love little Ziggy btw!) about 6 weeks... 12 weeks I think... 5 months... my two side by side....I will also post a photo of a little Cleo

yes I forgot to write in my earlier post that after EVERY meal, play session and sleep Nala was taken outside for a toilet break - these are the times you will most likely catch her needing to go and therefore you can both have a positive toilet training experience. Maybe being a Dalmatian she was a bit more vocal about her toileting needs in the morning and night :laugh: but I do notice when people bring pups into my work say to fit a harness or collar and the pup gives off clear toileting signals including whimpering, it goes unnoticed.

For a little puppy to be so separated from family would be hard, she doesn't know what's happening - only that it's cold and she's lonely out there. We are a forum of dog lovers and will have great sympathy for a pup outside in the middle of winter. With my last pup, I think I found a great formula for happiness all around and it was the easiest puppy raising I've had! We created a penned off area in the house, put a bed in there, toys and water. Because of where we set it up, she had private outside access during the day (private as in separate from my other dog). Basically this is where she learnt to be by herself but with the safety of knowing we were around. She learnt to self entertain with toys and toilet training was a breeze as whenever she whimpered, it was straight outside on the grass with the command "wees" - she very quickly learnt what a whimper would make US do, and what the word wees meant for her. If she whimpered/cried for no reason after visiting outside she was ignored and there was no excessive noise at all. Yes there were late nights for toileting purposes (11pm) and early starts (6am) but it was so worth it. And she now spends her days outside and sleeps inside of a night in a crate.

Can't comment on the agility side of it but the static has been BAD here lately, much worse than normal. Every time the dogs touched one of us in the car this morning, we got a zap.

It is a lot of fun, not quite as serious but I will say that I was hooked and HAD to get another pup to show in normal classes. My way of looking at it Things is that showing is for showing dogs that would be a breeding prospect. To me, my neuter girl is good but I wasn't ready to breed at that point and she wasn't intended to be my show dog originally (I started showing her at 6 months) so she's desexed. It may be called a beauty pageant by some, but it really considers their structure and how they "conform" to the standard. It's also a place where people can see different "lines" of dogs and if I saw a dog with an incorrect bite being shown, I would question that (or any other obvious fault)

Well sure if you knew confidently it wouldn't correct itself, but if it was only slightly out at the time and you were pretty confident it'd fix itself after some time. I dunno, just speculating :) I wouldn't take it on as i'd be concerned that it could be a trait that would be passed on, and that would be undesirable. I show one of my dogs for fun, as a neuter (so obviously no breeding happening there) and although she is not being bred from, she fits the standard and has no serious faults.

I've seen this on FB, does anyone know if this is in Australia? Last time one of these recalls happened it was US only, and I haven't heard from any suppliers or my Euk rep at work.

omg! the cuteness!

Frontline is topical and Comfortis is systemic - they are fine to be used together, especially now it's been so long since you've applied the Frontline (which can be applied fortnightly in flea infestations/for Paralysis tick prevention). Remember that you will see adult fleas still, it can take up to 6 months to fix the problem as that is the longest flea eggs can survive without hatching (usually it's not so long). Vacuuming can entice some pupae to "hatch" out as three things make them come out 1. movement 2. carbon dioxide (breathing) and 3. heat so that might be an idea. Also hot water (over 60 degrees C) and sunlight can kill the pupae/larvae - can't remember which stage exactly... so wash bedding and dry in sunlight. Revolution is a good product (usually) and the way it works means that the fleas poop out "toxic turds" - so baby fleas that normally eat flea dirt (it's a lovely life to be a flea) die because they eat the poisoned poop. So Odie will be helping too if fleas bite her and then poo.

I've found RC does seem to recommend a huge amount of food... the most I've fed an adult dog is when using Eukanuba and that was 3.5 cups per dog per day (although Nala did put on a bit of weight with this amount, Cleo did not - and Nala's the entire one!) now we're on Advance and we've cut down to about 2-2.5 cups a day. The least amount I've fed is on Earthborn and that was 1.5 cups a day, but I find that that kibble is so energy (protein) packed that they do well on that small amount. I will say too, I never follow the guides. My base to start is 1 cup in the morning and 1.5 at night and I work it up or down from there.

Thanks everyone. As to freezing...well! Coldest temps I've ever experienced, living so close to the beach all my life I've never experienced too much cold. I saw the most frost ever, and I had no gloves!!! And the dew froze on the mat I had put down for Cleo, and on my bike wheels. After the first 8kms I couldn't move my hands and the very kind vet lent me his gloves to wear....I had to get my husband to put them on me though. After that it was easy, the sun came up and we thawed a bit. Next time I will know how much I need to rug up!

I can't comment on the poo side of things, but on the food side of things I will offer my opinion. Here are the first five ingredients side by side RC lab: dehydrated poultry protein, maize, rice, maize gluten, animal fats RC maxi adult: maize, dehydrated poultry protein, maize flour, animal fats, dehydrated pork protein Both have a fair amount of corn in them. I would try another food, see if it changes. I think Holistic Select Large and Giant breed would be a good one to try. Here's it's first five: Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat Again it has a bit of filler, but at least it's rice rather than corn. My personal favourite dog food is Earthborn Holistic, but they won't have a large breed variety here until October.

Yes Petstock stocks Applaws now and I am another who just changes dog foods with no transition. And quite often, I get free bags from work so I can't be brand loyal :)

We did it! There were 7 of us in total and all passed. Was a very chilly morning, a lot of frost! Glad i'm sitting in front of a heater now.

Dried fish are so stinky! Bet the dogs are LOVING them though. I bought some once....dried herring...never again! Those treats were relegated to outside!

I wish they would catch the one up here. Four dogs baited in the last 2 months, 3 dead. Thank Dog I live out of town, but it is appalling. I too will never understand some people.

I'm considering dumping Petplan now....my renewal isn't up until December 27 but I could save that money and we do have a credit card that is only used when we really need it (ie. when Cleo got sick we used it). Currently I pay $40 per dog, per month so it's not a huge amount but could make a difference. I am so undecided, we could save that little bit extra per month or have a little bit of peace of mind (it's not total peace as stories of claims being rejected worry me).

A week and a half until our ET in Grafton :) My training has been upset somewhat by a car accident that I had that injured us humans, dogs weren't in the car thankfully. I think I should manage to ride the 20kms, my husband is a DogsNSW member in case I need him though. Apparently it will be a very small test too. Can't wait!

yep, my work has started a grooming service...amazing how many dogs are smaller when services depend on weight (i.e under 10kg, 10-25 and 25kg+) otherwise I hear so many size exaggerations. My old boss' great dane was 70kg and he was a good weight, I would HATE to see smaller breed weigh that much - as much as so many "tough" blokes would like to think that their rotti's etc weigh that much.